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Sweden doubles aid to Gaza, but ends UNRWA funding
Funding earmarked for Gaza will total 800 million kronor (US$72 million) in 2025, but aid to UNRWA, which totaled 451 million kronor in 2024, will be stopped, said the government.
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A Palestinian woman walks past a damaged wall bearing the UNRWA logo at a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 28, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (AFP/Eyad Baba)
S
weden announced plans on Friday to stop funding to the United Nations' Palestinian refugee agency in response to an Israeli ban, but pledged to increase its aid to Gaza via other groups.
Funding earmarked for Gaza will total 800 million kronor (US$72 million) in 2025, but aid to UNRWA, which totaled 451 million kronor in 2024, will be stopped, said the government.
Israeli lawmakers have passed legislation to bar UNRWA from operating in Israel and east Jerusalem, while raising the prospect of similar measures against other aid agencies.
Lawmakers backed the legislation after years of harsh Israeli criticism of UNRWA, which has only increased since the start of the war in Gaza following Hamas's deadly Oct. 7 attacks last year.
"Israel's two decisions in the Knesset, which Sweden has criticized, will make many of UNRWA's activities more difficult and impossible," Benjamin Dousa, Minister for International Development Cooperation, said in a post to X.
UNRWA provides assistance to nearly six million Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
"Swedish aid must reach its destination, not get stuck in a bank account along the way," Dousa said.
"Due to Israel's decision in the Knesset, we are therefore forced to pass on the aid to other organizations," he added, citing the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) and UN children's organization UNICEF.
Dousa added that UNRWA was "also going through a crisis of confidence".
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on X that the Swedish government's decision was "disappointing" and came "at the worst time for Palestine Refugees".
"This is a sad day for Palestine Refugees and the multilateral system which Sweden has spearheaded," he added.
Lazzarini said he hoped Stockholm would "reconsider its decision and pursue its longstanding solidarity by investing in both a political solution and the human development of Palestine Refugees through UNRWA".
The agency has faced criticism from Israeli officials that has escalated since the start of the war in Gaza, which was unleashed after Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
In response, Israel launched a withering assault on Gaza that has killed at least 45,129 people, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza health ministry figures.
